Infant&#39;s garment

ABSTRACT

THIS SPECIFICATION DISCLOSES A GARMENT FOR AN INFANT EASILY APPLIED AND REMOVED AND LAUNDERED, AND HAVING THE APPEARANCE OF SEPARATELY FORMED TRUNKS OR PANTS AND BLOUSE OR JACKET, BUT READILY OPENED INTO A FLAT CONTINUOUS SHEET FOR APPLICATION AND REMOVAL TO AND FROM AND INFANT AND FOR LAUNDERING.

March 9,- 1971 E. J. MASON INFANT s GARMENT v Filed Sept. 24, 1968INVENTOR ATTORNEY)" United States Patent 3,568,213 INFANTS GARMENTElizabeth J. Mason, University City, Mo., assignor to Trimfoot Company,St. Louis, Mo. Filed Sept. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 761,907

Int. Cl. A41d 11/00 US. Cl. 280 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisspecification discloses a garment for an infant easily applied andremoved and laundered, and having the appearance of separately formedtrunks or pants and blouse or jacket, but readily opened into a flatcontinuous sheet for application and removal to and from an infant andfor laundering.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Dressy garments for infants usually consistof a pair of pants and an upper garment which is applied over the headof the infant or into which the infants arms are inserted, the two itemsbeing separate garments having buttons, snaps or ties holdin themapplied and requiring some manipulation of the child while beingdressed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises a garment formed of anelongated strip of material on which an infnat may be laid face up, andthe lower portion of the strip then doubled over a transverse fold lineto bring one end margin up toward the infants waist and form a cover forthe infants crotch and the front of its abdomen, The upper portion ofthe strip is divided lengthwise into two parts which may be doubledsimilarly, on a transverse fold line, to cover the infants shoulders andchest and to bring its end marginal portions down to loosely overlie theinfants waist. The opposing edges of the divided parts may be securedtogether independently of the lower portion to form an over-blouse orjacket-like cover for the infants chest and abdomen.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a strip offlexible material having an irregular contour and adapted to be doubledover at indicated fold lines to form a garment. Broken lines indicate apartially folded diaper overlying the fully open garment.

FIG. 2 shows the lower part of the strip doubled on its fold line andits side margins secured together to complete a pants-forming member.

FIG. 3 shows the garment applied to an infant, the upper portion of thestrip being doubled along its fold lines, as shown in FIGS, 1 and 2, tooverlie the top front of the pants-forming member and with its sidemargins also secured to the back beneath the infants arms to present ajacket-like appearance.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The garment is formed from anelongated strip of flexible material having an irregular contour asshown in FIG. 1. The lower portion of the strip forms a seat part 1 witha downward extension 2, provided with deep side notches N which, whenthe material is doubled about a transverse fold line A, may encircle thelegs of an infant lying on the strip face up. Snaps or buttons 4, 5secure the side margins of the seat and doubled portions together (FIG.2) to form a pants-like part with a front 2 covering the hips, crotchand abdomen of the infant.

The upper margin of front 2 may have an elastic hem 14 for snugengagement with the infants waist.

The upper portion of the strip forms a back 6 with a relatively wideupward extension cut to produce diverging panels 7. The inner ends ofthe cut merge with a circular cut to form an open neck K and the panelsmay be doubled about fold lines B to cover the shoulders and the chestand to loosely overlie the upturned part 2 of the lower portion of thegarment (FIG. 3). Fastening elements 9 secure the opposing margins ofpanels 7 together independently of the lower extension. This closes thesides of the keyhole shaped opening between the panels. Small tabs 10 onback 6 have fastening elements 11 engageable with elements 12 on theouter margins of panels 7 to secure the outer margins of the foldedpanels beneath the infants arms, thus completing the jacket-likeappearance of the garment.

As indicated above, the garment may be opened out flat, laid on a bed,chair, table or other supporting surface, the infant laid thereon faceup, and readily dressed in the garment by simple folding and fasteningoperations and irrespective of the infants activity, There is nostruggling to insert the head, arms and legs of the infant throughrestricted garment openings or recesses. The fastening elements arereadily disengaged to remove the garment and it is obvious that thegarment when opened out is readily washed and spread out for ironing, ifdesired.

An ordinary diaper or similar napkin D may be placed over the lower halfof the opened garment before the infant is laid on the strip and thesecuring elements are readily separated to facilitate replacement of thediaper without removing the garment from the infant or unfastening theupper jacket-forming portions but the seat and back remain united andfasteners 4, 5 avoid sagging or unsightly looseness of the pants-forminglower part.

The cut and other details of the garment may be varied widely forappearance and style Without affecting the physical construction andconvenient features of the garment and the exclusive use ofmodifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. An infants garment comprising an elongated strip of flexible materialwhich may be laid flat on a supporting surface and including anintermediate part forming contiguous seat and back portions, and lowerand upper front parts extending lengthwise of the strip from the remoteends of said seat and back portions respectively and foldable about saidends to loverlie said seat and back portions respectively, readilyreleasable fastening elements along the side margins of both said seatportion and the lower front part with said loWer front part beingfoldable thereover to secure the same together about the infants thighsand waist independently of said upper front part and comprising the solemeans for securing said garment around the waist of the infant, saidupper front part being divided lengthwise to form two spaced-apartpanels, readily releasable fastening elements along the adjacentopposing margins of said panels for securing said panels together, andreadily releasable fastening elements on the side margins of said backportion and on the adjacent side margins of said folded over panels forconnecting said 'back portion to said panels beneath the arms of theinfant, said panels being long enough to overlap the upper edge of thelower front part when the latter is folded over said seat portion and toextend a substantial distance below said edge whereby said panelsloosely and freely overlap said lower front part.

2. An infants garment as described in claim 1 in which the back portionand adjacent front part have arcuate notches to form a neck-receivingaperture opening into the space between.the panels whereby the lattermay be folded over separately from each other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1919 Carter 2--80 3/1931Burgdorfer 2-75 H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner

